


Double trouble

by Yohao88



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29847888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yohao88/pseuds/Yohao88
Summary: Rin finds out through Haru that Makoto may be harboring special feelings for Sousuke, so he heads on a quest to help him see if there’s a chance cupid can strike. Little he knows that things will become real personal real fast.
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin & Nanase Haruka, Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka, Tachibana Makoto & Yamazaki Sousuke, Tachibana Makoto/Yamazaki Sousuke
Comments: 14
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

“ _WHAT?!!!_ Are you sure?!!”

“I’m not, but there’s no need to shout in my ears, anyway!”

Haru lowered the hand he had used to cover his ear as soon as Rin had started screaming. Even if his friend had just partially deafened him, he couldn’t blame his reaction. As he had told him, he was not entirely sure about what he’d just said, but…

Maybe he had to start from the beginning.

What was even the beginning, actually?

He didn’t even know if _his own_ _childhood friend_ knew.

It had all started one summer day.

Or at least that was the day he had noticed it for the first time.

***

It was summer.

Their second summer in Tokyo.

It was a Sunday, so even coach Azuma was getting some well deserved rest somewhere and that meant Haru was free to swim just for the pleasure of doing it. After training so much, relaxing in the water was still the best thing ever.

Makoto had come to the pool near his place to train a bit with him.

And the weirdest thing was that he had invited Sousuke.

Not that spending time with Sousuke was weird, no.

Just…

He wasn’t aware those two had become friends. Or… well… more friends than they had been able to be in high school.

He could feel a little bit of jealousy pricking his heart somewhere. Because of college, he and Makoto were not spending much time together, which was the complete opposite of what they had been used to in Iwatobi. He was so busy he could hardly remember to call him, sometimes.

Yet Makoto had evidently kept in contact with none other than Sousuke.

Even if he and Sousuke were getting along, now, there was still a little bit of rivalry and “fighting spirit” left between them, so his jealousy was mostly due to this stupid fact. He could admit that much.

Regardless… that was weird.

“Oi, Haru! Are you slacking off, today?”

Haru, floating in the pool, watched Sousuke walking towards him while stretching his right shoulder. “It’s my day off,” he grumbled, staring daggers into him.

He could see Makoto trying to hide his laughter some steps back, so he turned, pouting offended.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” Sousuke chuckled, sitting on the pool edge and looking around. “Are you really trying to tell me you found an apartment so close to a pool by chance?”

“So what?” Haru talked back, leaning back to lie on the water surface. There was no one but them that day, there, anyway.

“He had been really lucky,” Makoto intervened, stopping near Sousuke while putting on his swimming cap. “Right, Haru-chan?”

“Shut up and stop with the -chan,” Haru replied, bluntly. Were they teaming up against him, now?

Sousuke laughed of his embarrassment. “I’m surprised you two don’t live closer to each other, actually.”

“W-well, there was not much we could do,” Makoto stuttered. “This city is huge and we both needed a place not too far from our college.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sousuke turned towards his tall friend with a little grin. “The adult life calling, right?”

“E-eh?” Makoto startled a bit, looking elsewhere immediately. “N-not really.”

Sousuke started laughing of that reaction and Haru couldn’t help but just stare at his two friends.

Especially the one he had been spending all his life with.

Makoto was surely shyer than he was… but the way he was blushing now was different from all those he had seen for the past fifteen, seventeen years or so. It was the first time he had seen Makoto acting like that with someone.

He observed the way Sousuke was now enjoying making him even more embarrassed through silly jokes and he could only think that those two had surely gotten close, during the past months.

He didn’t think much of it, though. He knew Makoto and Sousuke were occasionally having chats by phone or meeting sometimes. Makoto had mentioned something here and there, so he completely discarded any weird hypothesis and blamed everything on inside jokes or… any other thing he wouldn’t have been able to know or spot. It was true there were almost no secrets between him and Makoto, but only _almost_ and they had always respected each other’s privacy.

Despite having forgotten about that first time soon enough, anyway, Makoto dining at his place some days after brought that memory back very quickly.

Munching some of the delicious mackerel he had cooked, in fact, Haru was now checking, a bit intrigued, his best friend’s smile while he was talking on the phone. He didn’t know who was on the other side, but Makoto was looking quite happy. He was just answering some questions about a good place where to eat tonkatsu. Why did Makoto know about places where to eat tonkatsu? He had never been a tonkatsu lover, as far as he knew.

Well, his mackerel was better than any tonkatsu, anyway.

Moving his attention to the food in his dish, Haru enjoyed another bite of his favourite fish. He didn’t want to eavesdrop anyway. He would just wait for Makoto to end the call.

“So are you seriously moving here?”

Who was moving here? And “here” where? In his neighbourhood?

Picking some carrots, Haru distractedly observed his friend sat in front of him.

“Oh, it’s good to know! I’ll tell Haru! He’s here, too.”

So it was someone they both knew…? Maybe Kisumi. Please, don’t let it be Kisumi.

“Y-yeah, I can show you that place, sometimes! My classmates are teaching me a lot about this city! Haha!”

Why was Makoto sounding so awkward, now?

And… why was his face red?

Haru’s brain suddenly hit him with a recent memory. Why that memory, exactly? Ok, it was true he had seen Makoto blushing like that, that time, but that didn’t mean anything. That was just an isolated chance and this time it surely wasn’t--

“Ok, then, Sousuke! See you soon in Tokyo!”

Haru stopped munching, looking at Makoto ending that call. He was still smiling.

And he was looking _really_ happy.

Now…

There were times when he _knew_ he had to avoid eye contact with Makoto _at all costs_.

And _this_ was _definitely_ one of them.

“It was Sousuke,” Makoto started, locking his phone screen. “He said he’s moving to Tokyo, can you believe tha--”

“Bathroom!” was the only thing Haru could think about, while standing up at the speed of light the moment Makoto turned towards him.

He heard his perplexed “Haru?”, but he had to put a wall between them, _literally_ , at least for one second.

Shutting the bathroom door behind him, he leaned to it, staring intensely at his WC.

It couldn’t be, right?

_Right?!_

Not that he had anything against it. Love is love and he could only feel happy for two people who love each other and can be together, regardless of gender.

But his best friend.

Being in love.

With a guy.

A guy he knew pretty well.

That…

_… was something._

And yes, there was the chance he could be terribly wrong.

But there was also the fact he had known Makoto almost since the day he had been born.

He knew he had never had a crush for the simple reason he had never seen him acting like that with anyone else before.

Why was he only now remembering how happy Makoto was every time he could speak to Sousuke? Even before that day at the pool.

He had to say that things like _“Ah, Sousuke called me!”_ or _“I heard from Sousuke…”_ or again _“Sousuke said this and this”_ had actually been… frequent, after they had moved to Tokyo. He knew they were getting along well, but not _this_ well.

What was he supposed to do, now?

Right! Maybe Rin knew something!

But maybe Rin would have told him, if he knew.

Or he was just respecting their privacy, too.

But judging from that old misunderstanding with Gou and Momo, Rin could become worried and overly caring when knowing someone close to him starts dating, so maybe he didn’t know a thing.

And _maybe_ it was better if he told him nothing as well.

Heck, he didn’t even know if his suspicions were right!

Maybe he was worrying for nothing.

So many _maybe_ ’s, but…

Yes, he was probably wrong.

Or not.

He gave up with a long sigh.

The best thing for now was keeping an eye on them, especially now that… apparently Sousuke was about to move to Tokyo for good.

Was it just a coincidence?

He slapped his face, standing up and moving from the door.

He could get how Rin must have felt, that time, about his sister. Such delicate matters are not easy to handle.

“Oi, Haru, are you ok?”

Makoto’s voice from the other side of the door made him jump.

“Y-yes, I’m ok!”

Maybe he had stayed in there too long.

He flushed the toilet and washed his hands, so Makoto could believe he had actually _used_ the toilet, and with another deep sigh he went out.

“Are you feeling bad?”

Makoto was the worried one now.

“I-I don’t know. Maybe the mackerel went bad.”

“Eh?! But you made me eat it!”

“Ah… no, maybe it was the rice.”

“The rice?! How?! And I ate that too!”

“Th-then maybe I’m wrong.”

“Haru… are you sure you are ok?”

As they went back to the table like that, Haru couldn’t bring himself to actually ask or to even mention Sousuke, so he gave up, momentarily. Time would have told him.

And so it did.

Autumn came, Sousuke moved to Tokyo and Haru could see his best friend under a new light.

Sousuke started to hang out with them and all the others – it was hard to become used to the fact he also knew Kisumi quite well, by the way – and Makoto… seemed to enjoy all that. A lot.

Haru had to admit he wasn’t sure about Sousuke’s feelings, but… he could certainly say he had never seen Makoto being so happy in his entire life.

And he was happy for him.

Really.

***

“In two weeks, then?”

“Yep!”

Haru observed Rin’s bored face inside the PC monitor in front of him. He had called him to wish him a happy birthday and Rin had just taken the chance to confirm he was coming back to Tokyo again. It was not time for nationals or anything to do with the national team, but Mikhail had been temporarily transferred to a college in Tokyo, so he had offered Rin to spend 6 months there with him, starting from the second half of February.

“Rin, as soon as you have some free time, we have to meet.”

“What?” Rin grinned, provokingly. “Wanting to race against me already?”

“No, we need to talk,” Haru glared at him. “Privately.”

Rin blinked perplexed. “Did anything happen?”

“N-not really.”

“Uh?”

“I-I don’t know, ok?!”

“O-ok! Ok! No need to get angry, jeez!” Rin waved his hands at his friend looking so irritated. “But you are making me worry, now. And wait! I-is it something I did?!”

Haru stared at his funnily worried face and sighed, resigned. “No, not really.”

“Ah, good. But I’m curious, now! Come oooon, tell me!”

Rin was now grinning profusely, which made Haru turn and pout. “Then hurry up and come here.”

He listened to his friend starting to complain and beg him some more. He wasn’t going to tell him via Skype for sure, but he had to talk to him about that matter. Their very best friends were the ones involved, after all. Rin was surely the best option as a supporting role and the only one he could talk to.

In any case, Makoto and Sousuke aside, he was really glad Rin was coming back to Japan again.

He couldn’t wait to swim with him again.

***

“Man, I’m dead tired.”

“You could have told me. We could have met another day.”

“Nah… You told me to come when I have some free time, so here I am.”

Haru looked away from Rin’s childish smile while letting him into his apartment. Not even two days had passed from the moment Rin had arrived in Tokyo and here he was already. Talk about wasting no time…

“So?” Rin let his back fall against Haru’s bed as soon as he sat on the blue carpet, with an exhausted sigh. “What’s so private and important that you can’t tell anyone but me?” A second after, he jumped up like a spring, slamming his hands on the table where Haru was about to put cups and tea. “YOU _DIDN’T_ INJURE YOURSELF, RIGHT?!!”

Haru observed his suddenly tense and scolding face, now a bit _too_ close to him, and didn’t know if he had to laugh or cry. Or… feel somewhat flattered by Rin worrying so much about him.

“No, we are not here to talk about me,” he sighed, sitting down at the other side of the small table.

“Oh…” Rin backed down, sitting again, a bit embarrassed for having overreacted a little bit. “Ahem… good.”

“Welcome back, anyway.”

The redhead stared at Haru pouring tea, a bit perplexed, then smiled broadly. “Haha! Yeah!” That said, he gave him a jokingly malicious look. “Now I’m all yours for six months, are you happy?”

Haru’s eyebrows twitched disturbed and he glared at his friend while feeling his cheeks getting a bit warmer. “Could you please rephrase that?”

Considering what they were going to talk about, _that_ was… really… not very… comfortable.

At his words, Rin’s expression quickly changed into shocked realization and he blushed way more than Haru had. “Haru, you… _IDIOT_!!”

And he looked very upset for not finding anything he could throw at him.

He then angrily took his cup and Haru sighed resigned. Rin had just come back and it already felt as if he had never even left. If that was a good or a bad thing, he couldn’t say exactly.

In any case, he had called him there to talk about Makoto and since the silence in the room was only waiting to be filled…

“A-anyway…” he started. How was he even going to tell him such a thing? “Since your jokes are… already going in _that_ direction…”

“Uh?” Rin interrogatively looked at him. Then he gave him a suspicious glare. “Th-that was not a joke. Just me not… wording stuff properly.”

For a moment, Haru felt really tempted to come back with something irritating to have some fun, but he forced himself back on track. He wasn’t there to spend time with Rin. Not… idle and carefree time, anyway.

“W-whatever! What I wanted to tell you is--”

“Wait! Where is this conversation going?!” Rin put down his cup and Haru saw his eyes widening and his face inexplicably getting red again. “B-because I’m really not ready for this!”

Haru blinked really confused. “… uh?”

“I-I mean…” Rin stuttered, blushing even more. “You tell me you have to speak to me alone and then--”

At those words, catching the misunderstanding, Haru suddenly blushed as much as him.

“—t-then you assume I told gay jokes and I-I’m not saying I hope this is a joke!! Just that I-I-I am REALLY NOT READY for--!!”

“ _I THINK MAKOTO AND SOUSUKE ARE DATING!!_ ”

A baffled silence followed those words.

Haru’s face was as distorted by irritation and embarrassment as it was all red and really, really hot.

Rin’s was no less, but he looked like someone had just poured a bucket full of ice-cold water on him.

“Uh?” he could only say, after a few more seconds.

“Y-you heard me,” Haru grumbled. His face felt now even hotter, but this one was definitely the discomfort he had felt for saying that last thing out loud. It was the first time he had admitted that… well… _out loud_.

It didn’t take long for Rin to widen his eyes even more. He wasn’t sure he had heard that right, but at the same time he was sure he had heard that perfectly.

Immediately overcoming the embarrassment for the previous conversation, he slammed hands on the table another time. “ _WHAT?!!!_ Are you sure?!!”

“I’m not, but there’s no need to shout in my ears, anyway!!”

“Y-you talked to Makoto or something?”

“No, but I hoped you would know something about Sousuke. Looks like you don’t.”

“I only know he moved to Tok--” Rin startled again. “Wait!! Are you saying he moved to Tokyo for--!!”

Haru suddenly looked conflicted. “I’ve never even thought about that!”

With a pensive “Mmmh…” they both turned towards the table. That was indeed a lot to take in. And also a lot to ask to their friends.

“B-but… how can you assert something like that?” Rin asked, dubious. Not that Sousuke would have had to tell him, but he was confident he would have at least been able to tell if something unusual was going on in his friend’s life.

“I just know Makoto,” Haru simply replied. “I am aware it’s just me thinking that and maybe I’m wrong.” He clenched his fists between his crossed legs. “But my guts tell me he at least likes Sousuke a lot. Whether Sousuke feels the same… that I can’t tell.”

“Ha!” Rin smiled, still quite overwhelmed. “First of all, I’m surprised your guts can tell you this kind of stuff. I didn’t picture you as the type who worries about their friends’ love life.”

“What should that mean?” Haru stared daggers into him. “I’m single, not blind.”

“Pfft!!”

“Oi!!”

Rin almost bursting out laughing made Haru’s face turn crimson again and Rin waved at him, still trying to hold back.

“Sorry! Sorry! It’s just…” With a sigh, he plopped his head on the mattress behind him, staring at the ceiling. “We’ve _all_ been single all the time, so thinking or talking about these things feels kinda weird.”

“Yeah…”

“Makoto and Sousuke, uh?”

Rin observed the warm paint on the wall above him. Why was he feeling sort of jealous? Because Sousuke had found someone before he did? He was surely admiring his best friend a whole lot, since dating a guy is not exactly easy-peasy in this time, place and age, but…

“I’m really not sure about Sousuke.”

“Mh…”

“Maybe we could… I don’t know… speak with Makoto?”

Haru frowned in discomfort. “You mean… asking him _directly_?”

“Hey, I like this as much as you do, but…” Rin turned, scratching his cheek embarrassed. “If we are the ones to ask… he knows he can trust us with this, right? I-I mean… I’m super ok with… uh… th-this type of relationships and… all.”

“O-of course.”

An awkward silence fell upon them another time. This conversation was definitely proving harder than it had looked. Why? They weren’t even talking about themselves. This was dumb.

“A-anyway there’s still the chance we are both wrong, so let’s just ask!!” Rin exclaimed sitting up again.

Haru did his best to nod to shake his embarrassment away. “Y-yeah…”

“The sooner the better?”

“Probably.”

“This weekend?”

“Makoto should be free.”

“Perfect! Then this is it! I’ll keep Sousuke away from him.”

“Actually…” Haru looked away. “Can you… come here too? I’ll need… help.”

“Eh?”

“I-it’s embarrassing and if I’m the one asking him to come here, he’ll understand immediately.”

“Ho-how?!”

“It’s Makoto.”

That was weirdly self-explanatory, so Rin could just sigh and surrender. “Ok. I just hope Sousuke is busy. I could ask Kisumi to take him somewhere.”

“Good idea!”

“Right?” Rin then gave out a big yawn. “Man, I’m really beat.”

“Do you want to stay over?” Haru asked, putting their cups back on the tray.

Rin looked at him full of hope. “Can I?”

“… I’m inviting you, am I not?”

“Then I gladly accept! Thanks, Haru. You are saving me.” And he yawned again.

“The extra futons are up there,” Haru pointed at the storage space up the stairs, while heading to the kitchen. “Help yourself.”

“You are such a bad host. I even told you I’m tired.”

“But I trust you are young and strong, so you can do it.”

Rin watched him coming back to take the table to the other room. “Are you pointing out you are older than me, _Nanase-san_?”

Haru frowned in disgust, stopping for a second. “This almost sounds worse than _Haru-chan_.”

“Or are you hi-- hitting on me?”

No matter how Rin just earnestly wanted to tease his friend with another joke, their very recent conversation instantly made what he had innocently said sound so awkward that Haru could just stare at his failed-to-say-the-least mocking grin and red cheeks while feeling his getting in the same state.

“Don’t tell these jokes if it’s so embarrassing!”

“Sh-shut up, idiot!”

“That’s my line!”

If they were feeling so weird talking about that with each other, how the heck were they going to do the same with Makoto?


	2. Chapter 2

“What is it, guys? Why did you say you have to speak to me in private?”

“Aaaah… you’ll see.”

“Do you need a trainer, Rin? Massages? Muscle problems?”

“Don’t become a muscle nerd, please. I already have two – that is _too many_ – in my life.”

“Haha!”

“A-anyway no, Makoto… uhm… we…”

“Let’s go inside, first, you two. It’s freezing out here, today.”

Haru opened the door to his apartment, letting his friends chatting behind him in. He and Rin had met at the nearby station to wait for Makoto and seeing his train arrive had been stressful already. It wasn’t going to be a tranquil conversation. At least not for their hearts.

Makoto didn’t seem to suspect a thing, while sitting down in Haru’s room, and that was also making them feel kind of… guilty? That was unquestionably an ambush, after all.

“Why do I have to be the one asking?” Rin whispered, as aggressively as he could, while stalling with Haru in the kitchen.

Haru glared at him, not without getting glares back. “I told you,” he muttered. “He’s going to understand what we want to ask the moment he sees me!”

“He hasn’t understood so far!”

“W-well… he will.”

“Just say you don’t want to be the one asking!”

“W-whatever!” Haru bluntly placed a tray with three cups on Rin’s hands. “Take this and--”

“Hey, guys, is it all right in there?” Makoto peeked outside the bedroom, into the kitchen where Haru was making some hot tea.

“Y-yeah!!” Rin smiled nervously, joining his friend in Haru’s room. “I was just telling Haru we don’t need mackerel right now! Haha!”

“O-ok…”

Haru observed Makoto’s already perplexed face with a sigh, before taking the steaming teapot to the table. Why were they even doing that? It was going to be a mess.

“So? What is it that you need?”

Makoto was giving Haru and Rin one of his brightest smiles and the two guys, sat next to each other in front of him, couldn’t help but start sweating, despite how cold that winter had been so far.

“A-aren’t you asking me how I’m doing in Australia?” Rin stuttered, with a trembling smile.

Makoto blinked confused, before smiling again. “I’m pretty sure you are doing well! Haru told me everything after you stayed over the other day.”

At those words, Rin gave an angry look at the house owner, who looked away with an embarrassed snort.

Makoto kept waiting, his smile still on his face, while Haru and Rin could feel their temperature rising more and more. They were short of excuses and they hadn’t absolutely thought this through enough. How do you ask a guy if he likes another guy?! Well… another of your friends, rather. If all that weren’t about Sousuke, they would have probably asked ages before and without making all this fuss. Or most of it.

Makoto’s stare was still piercing through them. Contrary to what Haru had said, he seemed to be still in the dark. Maybe because of Rin being there too.

With that ridiculous smile on their faces, however, it wasn’t difficult for Makoto to understand they were extremely anxious, so he tried to break the silence first. “Is it… something that happened between you two?”

“NO! NO! Absolutely not!!!” Rin found himself screaming, half wondering why he had blushed even more.

Makoto then looked at his childhood friend, who startled, but did his best not to look away.

“U-uhm…” Haru started, his hands shaking on his knees.

He was rarely this nervous, when talking to Makoto. They knew each other like the palm of their hands, but this was the only thing he didn’t know yet about him. It felt so strange.

“W-we were wondering… uh…”

He turned towards Rin for help, seeing him avoiding his glance.

Despite having done that, Rin couldn’t certainly leave Haru alone in all this, so he tried to speak anyway. “Uhm… do you happen to…” He scratched his head, nervous. “I mean…”

“I… I’m starting to worry, now,” Makoto mumbled, looking at the almost pitiful state his friends were in. What the heck was happening?

Whatever it was, it was surely starting to be ridiculous. As they looked at each other, Haru and Rin could at least agree on that. It wasn’t the end of the world, right? It was just a question. A stupid question. Well… not so stupid, but…

“I… wanted to ask you…” Haru stuttered, feeling his heart race.

Makoto was his friend. That was going to be alright. He could do it! And he was also glad Rin was there with him. His presence was so encouraging, even if he was panicking at least as much as he was.

He took a deep breath. Then, turning as serious as he could, he did his best to look at Makoto straight in the eyes.

“S-Sousuke,” was everything he managed to say.

But it proved to be plenty enough.

Makoto’s interrogative face turned into a very red one almost immediately.

“W-w-w-what about Sousuke?!”

Both Haru and Rin observed his genuine reaction with a little bit of surprise, before looking at each other and exchanging a relieved smile, calming down.

“You tell us,” Rin grinned, raising an eyebrow while putting one arm on his bent knee.

They gave Makoto enough time to process what was happening. The tall guy was now staring at the table, his face still red, sipping some tea now and then. His hands were definitely shaking.

While waiting for him, Haru looked at Rin again. He was drinking his tea, but when he noticed him, he broadly smiled, as to say _We did it! It wasn’t that hard, after all!_. While he agreed with Rin, his smile made him feel strangely uncomfortable, so he looked away, doing his best not to do it too fast.

Rin noticed his reaction anyway and felt his face warming up a bit. Talking about love between men with Haru was remarkably embarrassing. Haru probably felt the same way.

In that moment, Makoto finally cleared his throat, still very agitated.

“Ho-how long have you known?” he timidly asked, still avoiding looking at his friends.

Rin smiled, a bit uneasy. “Well… as for me, not much, honestly. Haru was the one to tell me, when I came back.”

“S-sorry,” Haru mumbled, timidly. “I didn’t mean to pry, but… I thought… maybe I was just wrong. I asked Rin in case… he knew anything.”

He couldn’t keep looking at his friend, so he turned towards the door.

That reaction made Makoto smile. In a way or another, all the three of them were equally nervous, now, so…

With a small sigh, he surrendered for good to the fact he had been found out. “I’m… actually surprised you got it. Or… I’m not. You must know me better than I thought! Haha!” He observed the cup in front of him for a few seconds, before smiling to his friends. “What should I say? Turns out you are right, after all.”

“To think I thought I knew Sousuke enough,” Rin pouted, a bit disappointed.

“Aaah… no, Rin… uhm…”

Rin turned perplexed towards his friend, who shrugged with an uneasy smile.

“It’s just me, really.”

“W-what? I thought… Haru said…”

“Oi, I said I wasn’t sure!” Haru protested, his turn to pout.

“Haha! No, guys, Sousuke… really doesn’t have a clue,” Makoto giggled.

And this time there was clearly – and obviously, at this point – some frustration in his attitude.

Rin and Haru immediately looked so sorry for him that Makoto rushed to wave his hands in front of his face. “B-but don’t worry!! I’m ok, I swear!!” he reassured them, now embarrassed. “I really… didn’t want to make anything out of this from the very beginning. I was even hoping I could chill down before anyone noticed, but… well…”

Rin observed his expression turning a little bit sad, despite those words. He had to say he was sorry.

Trying to divert the conversation at least a little bit, he scratched his head, clearing his throat. “Ho-how… When did you… If… I can ask…” Even if the topic was now out in the open, it was still hard to find the right words or ease.

“When I knew?” Makoto confirmed, smiling again. “I… don’t know exactly. Even before graduation, as soon as I had the chance to get to know him better, I… found myself thinking he’s an interesting guy and… I guess… that kept… growing.”

By the time he had finished that sentence, his face was completely red again and no longer able to keep pointing towards his two friends.

Seeing him like that, Rin softly giggled. “Haha! Don’t worry! I get it!”

“Do you?” Haru talked back, unimpressed.

“Sh-shut up!” Rin protested, blushing. “I was trying to make him feel better!”

Makoto waved his hands again, a bit uncomfortable. “No, Rin, don’t worry, really! It’s ok!”

“It’s not ok!” This time, Rin slammed one hand on the table, determined. “What if you have a chance and you just don’t know?”

“I-I doubt it. Even if you know him better…” Makoto took his cup, raising it, but just hiding behind it, then. “Since… you know him better…”

“Eh? Uh… no, we…” Rin scratched his cheek, looking away. “We’ve never really talked about this kind of stuff and, while I’d love to tell you if… Sousuke could… uhm… swing _your_ way, I…” This time he observed the floor, a bit sorry. “W-well… he’s never… given me that impression.” Then, realizing what he had said, he quickly looked at Makoto with a panicked smile. “BUT WE NEVER KNOW, RIGHT?!! Hahaha!!”

“Idiot,” Haru grumbled, Rin glaring at him right after.

“Aaaaah!! Seriously, Makoto!!” the redhead punched the table another time, turning serious. “You were really happy when I told you about his surgery. I mean… I can see that _now_.”

“Uh?!!” Makoto stuttered, blushing all over again.

“And until we know if you actually have a chance, we should look into it!”

“Rin, I--!”

“We should look into it!!” Rin repeated, scolding his friend with one look, then grinning happily. “I’ll… no-- _We_ ,” that said, he circled Haru’s shoulder with an arm, “will do our best to help you! Right, Haru?”

The interested party protested uneasy. “Oi, _you_ are the romantic one.” Then he looked at Makoto, turning away again in a second. “B-but I’ll… do what I can.”

“I really can’t picture you playing cupid, Haru,” Rin teased him, with a provoking and amused grin, as he squeezed him even more in his arm.

“Shut up! And let me go, you romantic idiot!”

“What?! If it weren’t for me, you would have never helped your best friend, here!”

“What do you know?! Maybe I’d have!”

“While sleeping with magazines about water under your bed?”

“What about _your_ magazines, then?!”

“I-I don’t have any!”

“I don’t believe you!”

“You really should!”

“No way!”

Makoto stared at that funny bickering with a relieved smile. He had never intended to ask for help, but his new task-force looked promising. Kind of. And whether it would prove to be useful or not, he was really glad he had someone to talk to.

To tell the truth, to this very point he had never been brave enough to properly name and acknowledge his feelings. Telling someone out loud made them become even more real. Though he couldn’t know how that was going to end, he was grateful for feeling that way. It was his first love and he was going to live it to the fullest.

***

“Haru, I want a rematch!!”

“Forget it! Today I’m going home with three victories!”

“The hell you are!! Sousuke, come here and check again!”

“You said it was the last time two races ago, Rin. Also, even if you win this one, Haru would still be the winner.”

“Oi, who’s side are you on?!”

“Mine. I want to swim.”

The conversation made Makoto giggle, while he was picking up the last kickboards after the end of his swimming lesson. It was one of those rare days when all four of them could manage to swim together.

Actually, Rin, Sousuke and Haru had joined him there and started swimming while he was teaching, but that was the last turn of the day and he couldn’t wait to swim a bit, too.

“If you guys wait for a sec, I’m going to check you, this time, ok?”

“Thanks, Makoto,” Sousuke replied, pointing at his other friends with a thumb. “Your students behave better than these two.”

Haru and Rin glared at their friends with an offended ‘ _OI!’_ , before turning towards each other for having talked at the same time and then giving the other their back with a big pout.

Makoto laughed of their reaction but couldn’t avoid cursing his brain for being so happy he could be of help to Sousuke. He had gotten used to that… new way of elaborating emotions, yet he didn’t like it very much. Not that he could do anything about it.

What was important was that he could spend some more time with him, now. Sousuke had moved to Tokyo a month ago, mainly to start training again. He wasn’t in good shape enough to join Haru and Rin on the international stage yet, but he was working very hard and was improving quickly. His shoulder was so much better, now.

Studying and working as a trainer – teaching was kind of a second job – had allowed him to understand Sousuke’s condition better. He had had to be in a lot of pain, in the past. He was proud of him, for having come this far.

Also… if Sousuke was ever going to ask him to help him with his shoulder, that would be the day he died.

“I’ve never asked you this, but… would you be able to help me with rehab?”

“ _UH?!_ ”

Makoto could only curse his own reaction. That Haru and Rin had _surely_ and immediately turned towards them made that even worse.

Hoping with all his heart his face wasn’t too red – and thanking the fact he was not occupying a bench too close to Sousuke, in that suddenly smaller locker room – he did his best to face him with a shaky smile. “I-I-I… I think I could do something, yeah. Maybe you could ask Nao-senpai for more advanced practices, but…”

“Bullshit! You are good enough, Makoto! I tested it,” Rin asserted, giving him then a malicious grin and a thumb-up as soon as his head popped out of his shirt’s collar.

As much as he was aware Rin was hinting at some alone time with Sousuke and that he was about to feel very embarrassed about it, Makoto forced his rationality to bypass all that. “Your body is perfectly fine, Rin. I can’t risk working with the same level of care with someone who’s gotten injured in the past and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah…” his friend grumbled. “Tsk!”

He had to say Rin was pretty good at finding excuses. On the other hand, he was grateful for Haru almost never trying to do the same. His best friend was very smooth in the water, but on land – and among people – it wasn’t exactly the same. If anything, his clumsy attempts were sometimes hilarious. And often mackerel-themed.

“Don’t worry, Makoto,” Sousuke smiled, understanding. “It’s ok. I was just curious.”

“In any case, if I can help, I will. Training counseling and tension relief are still my things! Haha!”

“I’ll need that, next week,” Rin complained, thinking about the _chou-very-intensive_ training regime Mikhail was going to give him in a couple days.

Makoto raised a thumb towards him. “Haru has already booked me, too. It’s always like this when national team calls.”

“I hope they pay you,” Sousuke giggled, gaining more glares from the interested parties.

“Whatever!” Rin grumbled. “Haru, let’s go! I’m hungry.”

“Oi, Rin, wait a--!”

Saying that, Rin dragged his friend out of the room, Haru complaining his bag was still open.

Makoto looked at them with a smile. He knew they were doing that to leave him alone with Sousuke as much as possible, Rin at least. He didn’t know if he had to get mad or feel grateful. Strangely, the two feelings peacefully coexisted.

There was silence again, in the room, now. They were the last two people remaining there. Maybe he had to feel anxious, but the truth was he felt at ease. Since he was pretty sure Sousuke didn’t suspect a thing, he had always felt safe when being with or talking to him if it was just the two of them, the risk of being found out being extremely low.

He was simply happy.

Sometimes, enjoying happiness like that almost felt like a waste.

Still, he didn’t want to confess. He was ok with how things were.

“You know, I’m really glad your shoulder is ok, now.”

He could tell him things like that, instead. Just… normal sincere things.

He saw Sousuke look at him surprised with the corner of his eye.

“Oh… thanks.”

“You really deserve it.” He smiled more openly this time. “I’ve seen the pain athletes can go through up close, yet I can’t even imagine it. You’ve been brave.”

Sousuke frowned a little, taken aback by that sudden shower of gentleness. “Uh… well…” He scratched his head. “I’ve just had many people helping me. I’ve been lucky.”

“And persevering, I should say. Going on as you’ve done so far is not to be taken for granted.”

Sousuke watched the vaguely scolding look on Makoto’s face and smiled. “Then thanks again.” He couldn’t avoid chuckling. “Talking with you like this is really unusual.”

“Eh?!” At his words, Makoto blushed all over again. He was getting carried away. “Ah! S-sorry, I didn’t mean to--!”

“I wasn’t complaining.” Sousuke smiled to him another time. “Just, you are good with words. You are going to be an awesome trainer.”

“T-thanks,” Makoto could only mumble, hoping his heart wasn’t about to jump out of his chest.

“Are they still talking?” Haru asked, walking towards Rin, who was leaning arm crossed to a wall outside the swim club.

“Yep,” the redhead replied, with a satisfied smile.

The two of them had waited for a while outside the locker room, but as soon as they had heard Makoto speaking again, they had understood the mood in there was nice enough and decided to leave their friends alone.

“I’m also thinking we should ditch them.”

“Again?”

They were supposed to have dinner all together, but they couldn’t lose the chance to… gently force Makoto and Sousuke to spend the rest of the evening without them. They had tried at least twice, after Sousuke had moved there. It worked only once, at least as far as they knew.

“What if Sousuke starts suspecting something?” Haru asked, peeking inside the building, just like Rin was doing.

“I doubt it. He’s good with others, but he can be pretty dense when he’s the one involved.”

“If you say so…”

“And in case he understands, I’m sure things will be all right anyway.” That said, Rin clenched a fist in front of himself.

“If you say so…” Haru repeated, sighing for his friend’s romantic optimism. Rin was really enjoying the whole situation.

“Come on, Haru. Let’s go.” That said, Rin threw his own bag on a shoulder and started walking away.

Haru followed him, perplexed. “W-where?”

“Dinner,” was the simple answer.

“So _we are_ leaving them here again,” Haru frowned, disgruntled.

Rin shrugged. “If they ask, we’ll just tell them our coaches changed our regime again and we had to go home.”

“Makoto is not going to believe that.”

“Sousuke neither, but I don’t care.”

“What?”

Rin turned towards Haru with another determined clenched fist. “If those two have a chance, I’m definitely going to help!”

Haru stared at him, resigned and unimpressed. “You _do are_ a romantic _idiot_.”

“Shut up!!” Rin protested, blushing and stepping away.

Haru followed him on the street. “Where are we going?”

“Don’t know. What do you want to ea--”

“Mackerel.”

“… why do I even ask?”

“We could go to that sushi place, so you can get _that thing_ ,” and Haru couldn’t avoid a certain note of disgust, “with bacon and cheese.”

“ _That thing_ is delicious and you should really try it, for once!”

“I’ll pass, thank you.”

Snorting, Rin crossed his arms behind his head, looking up at the by now dark sky. “I really hope it works,” he simply said, pensive.

Haru watched him interrogatively.

“Makoto and Sousuke, I mean.” Rin moved his hands to his pockets. “I’ve never thought Sousuke might end up dating a guy. Thinking about it feels… unexpected, I guess, but you never know, right?”

“I don’t really know what to say,” Haru shrugged. “It’s a first even with Makoto.”

Rin glanced towards him, curious and a bit fidgety. “You’ve never thought… not even once…?”

“W-what?” Haru blinked, his brain strangely putting his guard up.

“You know… Guys and all…” After hearing his own words, Rin flinched, feeling himself blush. “M-Makoto, I mean!” Of course he wasn’t about to ask such a thing _to Haru_.

In front of that idiotic smile, Haru gave his friend a deadpan look and a raised eyebrow. “… are you asking me if I knew Makoto isn’t into girls?”

“Don’t put it like that!” the redhead protested, now visibly red. “It’s embarrassing!”

Haru watched him, half confused, half resigned. “Why? We are not talking about you.”

“A-anyway!” Rin muttered, looking away again. “Talking about… your guy friend falling for another guy friend… with another… guy friend…” He tried to hide behind his tracksuit collar. “… feels weird.”

And while Rin couldn’t find a valid reason for feeling so awkward, Haru decided not to ask him for one. Looking at his flustered friend had suddenly made him feel uneasy as well, so he just turned the other way with a light snort.

“Do you want to stay over, anyway?” he asked then, after just a few steps, before that mood could make this question feel even weirder.

He stared at the city lights around them. He had never thought that was a weird question, but because of their conversation, he was pretty sure Rin was either getting embarrassed or preparing a comeback for the occasion.

In fact, his friend turned with a smug and provoking grin on his face. “I see you keep hitting on me,” he could finally succeed in saying.

Haru could just look away with an embarrassed pout, even if he was expecting just that.

“You truly are an idiot,” he bluntly said, Rin making fun of him at his side.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ugh, I can’t find it.”

“What?” Sousuke turned towards his best friend, who had stopped in the middle of the station frantically looking in every pocket of his clothes and wallet.

Giving up after checking the last possible option, Rin sighed upset. “My commute card. I hope I haven’t lost it.”

“Do you want to go back and search for it? Maybe it fell somewhere at Haru’s place.”

In fact they had been there with Makoto, Kisumi and Asahi till about an hour earlier. Not feeling like going back home immediately, Rin and Sousuke had enjoyed a walk and a chat before squishing themselves in a station now too far from where Rin’s card might have been, to get on one of the last trains of the day.

“Nah, we wouldn’t be able to catch the train. Wait here a sec. I’m getting a ticket. I’ll check with Haru tomorrow.”

“Ok.”

Hoping his friend wouldn’t get lost, then, Rin ran towards the first ticket machine he could find.

Thinking about it, it was fun how they had ended up at Haru’s, that evening. Asahi and Kisumi had decided they had to find out which present was going to be the best for him, since his birthday was in a bit more than two weeks. The best way to do so, according to Kisumi, was to simply barge into his house, look around and have a chat with him, but aside from pissing Haru off for having come with no invitation and then finding out about new brands of mackerel he had tried recently, they’d come up with nothing.

Also, that had probably been just Kisumi’s excuse to invade someone’s place during a free evening. That guy was never going to change.

In any case, he had to meet with Haru again, now. He was spending so much time with him, lately.

It surely was fun.

And they could talk about Makoto and Sousuke and the… yet _non-existing_ progresses in their relationship. By now, he _really_ wanted their friends to end up together. They were a nice pair. Maybe he was being too much of a romantic, but he somehow could picture them as a couple.

On top of that, confabulating with Haru about what to do to make them get closer – and most of all seeing Haru interacting with love relationships in his very naïve and earnest way – was simply priceless. He couldn’t wait to see more and more of that.

Who would have thought his stay in Japan would have become this interesting?

***

“Bye! See you tomorrow!!”

Waving at his classmate after lessons were over for the day, Makoto took out his phone to check the messages. They were trying to find a present for Haru, but so far no luck. He was short of ideas, just like anybody else. Maybe canned mackerel really was the best option.

He was about to put the phone back into his pocket when an incoming call made him startle.

Seeing who was looking for him made him jump twice more violently, though.

“Hey, Sousuke,” he answered, grateful for his voice not shaking one bit, despite all.

“Makoto, I’m near your college. I think.”

Those words made Makoto giggle.

“I was looking for that restaurant we went to the last time. The tonkatsu one. I… can’t find it. Again,” Sousuke admitted, defeated by his not exactly good sense of direction.

“Don’t worry,” Makoto smiled, grateful for that little extra time together. “Where are you? I’ll show you.”

Thanking the fact he knew almost all the places surrounding his university building, he went on a quest to find his lost friend and luckily it didn’t take too long. He was actually very close to the place he was looking for.

“Thanks, Makoto, I owe you one,” Sousuke smiled, once in front of his new favourite restaurant. “My cousin is going to come here in a few days and I wanted to make him try this.”

“Haha! Does this tonkatsu passion run in the family?”

“No, he’s a cook and I want him to replicate this.”

The way Sousuke had said those word was so serious and determined, that Makoto couldn’t help but laugh. “You truly are a tonkatsu lover. Between you and Haru, I really don’t know who the most passionate about food is.”

At that reaction, Sousuke turned a bit embarrassed. “At least tonkatsu is better.” Then he looked at Makoto again. “Anyway, since I’m here, I think I will stop for lunch. It’s a little late, but I have yet to eat. What about you?”

Internally thanking a few gods for having decided to have lunch later – meaning he was starving too, so two pigeons with one stone – Makoto kindly smiled, shrugging. “I’ll gladly join you. I was about to call Haru, but I’ll do it later. Rin forgot something at his place, or so he told me this morning.”

“Ah, right, the train card,” Sousuke confirmed, keeping the restaurant door open for his friend.

“Oh… thanks, Sousuke. Yeah, I’ll drop by later. Maybe I can find it. Rin wasn’t sure he could come and Haru isn’t answering, so…”

“Typical,” Sousuke giggled, following him.

Hoping his brain would soon stop thinking that was feeling like a date, Makoto quickly started to look for a free table. That wasn’t the first time he was hanging out alone with Sousuke. Still, the way he was feeling was always the same and sometimes it was irritating. That _wasn’t_ a date and it was never going to be.

Spending a couple hours with Sousuke chatting about swimming, rehab and Haru’s present was plenty enough.

Kind of.

***

“That idiot isn’t answering and he’s not even at home!”

Staring at the door in front of him, which he had knocked on by now multiple times, Rin gave out a resigned sigh, looking once again at his phone. Haru had gone M.I.A. since the previous evening. He had tried to contact Makoto hoping he could get a hold of him, but so far no luck. He just needed that damn card, dammit.

And maybe some more time talking with Haru about--

“Hey, Rin, are you here too?”

Makoto’s perplexed voice made him startle. “Whoa! You scared me!”

And why had his face become so hot after believing Haru had been the one to catch him waiting in front of his place?!

“Haha! Sorry!” the tall guy, smiled. “I thought you couldn’t come, so I came here to get your card.”

“Yeah… Mikhail let me go earlier, so I took that chance to come here myself. That idiot isn’t home, anyway,” Rin complained, pointing a thumb at the door. “And his phone is still turned off.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Makoto shrugged. “He should be back before dinner time. We can wait for him at the park nearby.”

“Mh!” Rin smiled, nodding.

They walked for a few minutes under the setting sun, till reaching one of the benches in that park. Haru would always take that route to go home, so they were certainly going to spot him.

“So? How’s your day been?” Rin asked, plopping on the hard wood with a tired sigh.

“EH?!” Makoto jumped, feeling like an idiot right after. Such a reaction definitely sparked Rin’s curiosity, so he ended up being forced to tell him about his lucky encounter.

“Ehhh… way to go, Makoto!” Rin grinned, making his friend blush.

“Stop it, Rin! It was nothing, anyway, and you know it!”

“As long as you are happy, it’s not nothing, right?” Rin smiled, looking up. “I’m still cheering for you.”

“Thanks, haha!”

Seeing his disheartened face, Rin glared at him. “Oi, have a little faith. Or confess already.”

“W-what?!” Makoto was more and more flustered.

“Yeah! I’m sure Sousuke would be cool with it.”

“T-that’s not the point.”

“Yes, it is.”

“And anyway, I must not keep my hopes high.”

“Uh? Why?!”

Looking away from Rin’s scolding face, Makoto observed a leaf falling on the ground, embarrassed. “I… just don’t think Sousuke is into… uh…”

“Guys?” Rin completed his sentence, smiling when his friend jumped another time. “If you want, I can ask him what he thinks about guys dating. We can start from there.”

“UH?!” That made Makoto blush at least three times more. He looked at Rin not knowing what to say, but in the end he just turned to the ground again, playing with his thumbs. “Well… Only if… you can be super vague about it,” he muttered, hearing his friend chuckle.

“Don’t worry! Leave it to me! Or to Haru, as a punishment for keeping his phone turned off!” Rin added, glaring at an imaginary Nanase Haruka in front of him. Haru would have surely hated such a task. And he wanted to see him fail at that _so bad_! It would have been epic.

Makoto smiled, a bit awkwardly, of his attempt to make him feel at ease. An attempt that had reminded him of _something_. Something he wasn’t entirely sure he could ask Rin.

He looked around, nervous, glancing at his friend now and then. Since it was just the two of them, maybe…

“C-can I ask you something?” he muttered, taking courage.

Rin immediately nodded with a big smile. “Sure!”

In front of that reaction, Makoto could only look elsewhere again. His friend wasn’t going to be so cheerful after hearing what he was about to say.

Swallowing, he stared at his own knees. “But please, don’t get offended if I’m getting it wrong.”

Rin blinked perplexed, but then smiled encouraging. “Now I’m curious! Haha! Ask away. I promise I won’t kick you too hard.”

Makoto giggled uneasy. Then he scratched his cheek, looking at the sand under his feet. “I was thinking… You are helping me out a lot with this and… don’t get me wrong, I am not looking for someone who feels the way I do or anything, but…”

He turned towards Rin, who was still politely waiting. Was he about to drop a bomb on him? He would have found out soon.

Curving his lips into a tense smile, he did his best to ignore his heart beating too fast. “W-what about… you and Haru?”

It took Rin a few seconds to process the very last words he had expected to hear his friend say, but when he did, he widened his eyes incredulous. “ _HUH?!!!_ ”

Seeing his reaction, Makoto rushed to wave his hands in front of his face. “AAAAAH!!!! I knew I was wrong!!! Forget I said anything, I’m sor--!!!”

“Do you think Haru _likes me_????!!!”

“Eh?”

At those words, Makoto blinked confused by Rin’s shocked, unbelieving and honestly very funny expression.

They stared at each other in still silence for a few seconds.

Then Makoto smiled, amused and relieved, understanding Rin was really as clueless as he was looking right now. For a moment, he had thought that was an act. “He likes you a lot for sure,” he chuckled, seeing Rin sit up and take notice, apparently flattered, “but to begin with I’ve never truly wondered how much and… which way until this very moment,” he admitted. “However… well…” He scratched his cheek again. There was no less indirect way to put it, so… “I was actually talking about _your_ feelings.”

Rin possibly widened his eyes even more. “M-mine?!!”

“I mean… I know you are very close friends. I don’t want to assume anything, but… especially after and because of what happened to my own feelings, I started paying more attention to how you two act around each other and… sometimes I feel a vibe I can’t explain, let’s put it like this.”

Rin was still looking extremely bewildered.

Makoto smiled, uncomfortable. “Again, I’m sorry if this is just a huge gaffe on my part. I’m really just asking out of pure curiosity.” He was probably wrong, after all.

Realizing his mouth was still wide open, Rin startled a little, clearing his throat. “No, I mean… I get it.” He turned towards the ground. He was feeling as if his brain had just exploded. Words and thoughts were all over the place. “I-I mean… of course he’s… a-an important friend.”

What was he even saying now? That was embarrassing. He hated talking about that kind of stuff and he had always avoided stating explicitly how much he was fond of Haru… but he owed Makoto an honest answer, since he was now looking so sorry for having asked such a thing. Just an answer. A simple answer. No need to go overboard. Just to tell him he was _completely wrong_.

“I-I just really like swimming with him,” he muttered, feeling his face getting hotter. “Or… being around him in general. It feels very good, but I’m sure it’s like this for anyone.”

Right?

Ok, maybe that was too much. There was _zero_ need to say that part.

“I-I-I just enjoy his company even if at times he’s an idiot!” Why was he raising his voice, now? “And anyway we fight very often, so maybe he doesn’t like me as much as you say, but sometimes he also catches me off guard with weird stuff he says – that or he starts smiling – and it’s hard to keep staring at him and maybe my chest feels weird and it feels nice and all and I don’t even know what to say or do, but this is so rare and I’m sure it happens to you too anyway, or anyone, really, so I don’t think it’s anything special, it surely isn’t, it can’t be, it’s just Haru being weird, I don’t think I’m in love with him or anything, _no_.”

Makoto blinked surprised in front of that river of words Rin… probably wasn’t even fully aware he had said.

Or maybe he was, judging by his now suddenly traumatized expression.

He was staring at a tree as if he had just killed someone, but he abruptly snapped out of it, turning shocked and red faced towards Makoto.

“I-I mean… it happens to you too, _RIGHT_?”

Understanding that not only he had been right about Rin, but that his friend had also just been forced out of Oblivion World – which he could get completely, after trying so hard to convince himself he had absolutely no feelings for Sousuke – Makoto tried to give him an indulging smile to make him feel better, but failed halfway. He wasn’t able to lie that much.

In front of that unfortunately more than clear _‘Not really’_ , Rin could only catch fire, pointing at him. “I AM NOT--!!!”

Completely out of mind, he gasped in an attempt to find anything valid to say, before turning towards the sand again, his eyes wide open. Right now he was very close to having a stroke or to see his heart smashing his ribcage, probably.

He clutched a hand onto his chest, begging his whole being to calm down. He was actually feeling a bit winded.

He raised one finger in front of Makoto. “Give me a--”

He was so tense it was hard to breathe.

He was aware of Makoto smiling at him even without looking. If he was trying to reassure him… well, that was working.

“My heart is going nuts right now,” he admitted, suddenly feeling a strange need to smile, inside him, somewhere. He finally glared at Makoto, seeing him smile even more broadly. “It’s all your fault.”

Makoto chuckled, amused yet a bit embarrassed. “I’m really sorry.”

In one last attempt to calm down, Rin took a deep breath, then a deeper one, stretching his arms, raising his head and looking up. A very big and heavy cat was out of the bag and he was in disbelief for how good that felt. He had never been able to deal with cats very well, after all.

“I… would be lying if I told you I’ve never wondered it myself,” he said, once his heart had finally slowed down a bit.

Makoto listened in silence, seeing him quickly looking at him and then turning away as soon as their eyes met.

“I mean… I’ve always been aware it’s not the same with you or Sousuke or the others, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.” He paused, placing both hands on the bench he was sitting on. “At least until I knew about you.” He looked down, curving his lips in bittersweet understanding.“Talking about you and Sousuke with Haru had always felt really weird.” Watching his friend by his side, he finally smiled. “I’m pretty sure some of the times I was indeed talking about me.” Then he scratched his head, looking down again and muttering an embarrassed “And… I was a bit jealous of you too, maybe.”

“So… you actually knew?” Makoto carefully asked.

Rin glared at him immediately, his face suddenly redder.” Just deep… _deeeeeeep_ down!” he admitted. “But you forced it out, so take responsibility!” he then ordered, getting closer to glare better.

Makoto started waving his hands in front of his face. “Aaah!! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!!” He was feeling a bit bad about it, now. He had asked that question practically sure there was a very high chance he was right. He had not been proven wrong, but he had also forced something big out of his friend, without knowing if he was ready.

Rin could read all that on his face. Truth was… he was grateful. Talking about all this with Makoto, after finding out he was also in love with a guy, was something he had been yearning to do, even just to ask for an opinion, but he had never been able to find the courage to admit it, before, not even to himself. Makoto had noticed anyway. Takes one to know one, uh?

He gave out another sigh. “Well… not _SO_ deep,” he grumbled, to make his friend feel better, looking away again. That was the truth in any case .

Hearing that, Makoto laughed. “Maybe your situation is even worse than mine,” he joked, trying to lift the mood further and gaining a punch on his arm by a pouty Rin. “But now that you’ve told me this, I kind of think you have a chance.”

Rin violently flinched. “WHAT?!” he shouted, terribly blushing.

Makoto shrugged. “Well, I told you: Haru _really_ likes you, after all.”

The redhead at first blushed even more then he glared at him, half suspicious, half hopeful. “W-wait… do you actually _know_ someth--”

“Nope, I don’t,” Makoto answered, giving him a bright, innocent smile. “I’m just saying you should try.”

“Then don’t phrase it like that!!!” Rin protested, his face on fire, standing up to better throw his cap at his friend. “Damn you.”

“Haha! Challenge for who confesses first, then?”

“What?!” Rin jumped up again, but seeing that Makoto was just as uneasy as he was, despite having said that himself, he chuckled. “Just promise me you will confess when the mood is so perfect you have no other choice.”

“W-well… right now this feels extremely embarrassing but…” Makoto nodded, timidly. “Ok, but you have to do the same.”

“Uh?!”

“What? I have to do it and you don’t?”

“I-I’m new at this!”

“Pfft! If anything, you should be my senpai, instead!” Makoto joked while shielding himself with his arms because Rin had tried to hit him again.

His guts were telling him Rin had started liking Haru long before he had developed feelings for Sousuke, but Rin would have never admitted that much. Not right now at least.

He sighed, observing the green leaves above them. “I must say I’m relieved.”

“Uh?”

“Well, we are on the same boat.”

That genuine smile made Rin feel even worse. Or better. By now he didn’t know the difference anymore. What had just happened was almost unreal and he was--

“Why are you on the same boat?”

Haru’s voice suddenly made both friends jump so violently they almost fell on the ground. They turned instantly, both with eyes and mouth wide open and a tremendously red face – Rin especially – seeing Haru was right behind them.

“ _HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?!!!!!_ ” Makoto screamed, begging the answer to be what Haru actually ended up saying.

“I’ve just arrived and I heard you talking about boats and… why are you both so red?” he asked, noticing the state his friends were inexplicably in.

“I’M NOT RED!!” Rin protested, while turning even redder.

Haru glared at him, suspicious. “Were you two talking about me?”

Makoto nervously waved his hands at him with a smile. “N-NO, of course we weren’t!! Hahaha!!!”

Haru said nothing, but stared daggers into him, to let him know he wasn’t believing a word of it.

“A-Anyway just let’s go!! It’s almost dinner time and we could eat at your place, right, Rin?!” he asked, trying to look for support.

“That has nothing to do with me!!!” Rin however shouted, thinking Makoto had done that on purpose.

Even Makoto quickly realized. “Oh, I didn’t mean it that wa--!”

“Then you are not invited,” Haru bluntly stated, glaring at Rin because of his noisy and apparently angry arguments.

The poor guy frowned offended. “Oi!!”

“And why are you here, anyway?” Haru asked him, since finding Makoto at his place was pretty usual, but the same couldn’t be said about his other friend.

Remembering why he had come there in the first place, Rin scratched his head. “O-oh… I-I think I forgot my commute card at your place, s-so…” He became strangely aware of Makoto staring at him. “I-it was not on purpose!!!” he ended up shouting. He could almost read on his face _that_ was what he was thinking, after their latest conversation.

Makoto couldn’t certainly deny it, so he simply smiled, awkwardly. “Yeah yeah!!”

Meanwhile, Haru was more and more confused. “You could have come back yesterday,” he said, staring at Rin.

“W-well, I noticed at the station and it was the last train and I just thought I… could come back today.”

Haru watched his friend looking away, dubious in front of such a shy reaction, then he avoided him as well, with a soft pout. “Do as you wish,” he grumbled, starting to walk towards home.

Following him, Makoto smiled at Rin giving him a little _‘I told you’_ jab.

“Stop it,” Rin protested, blushing again.

Despite having to worry about as many innuendos as those he had used to tease him about Sousuke so far, Makoto knowing about his feelings for Haru was… simply the best thing. They were going to support each other till the end of this by now quite interesting love quest.

He couldn’t wait to see where this would have led.


	4. Chapter 4

Feelings for Haru.

Processing them was easier said than done.

No matter how he _was_ aware, denial or not, that what he had been feeling for him for a very long time was not just friendship, no matter how many times he had slammed his head against this fact, _this fact_ being now out in the open was… both better and worse.

Better because he could see it for what it actually was, but worse because he had to _deal with it_. It was bound to happen, sooner or later, but maybe part of him was still hoping to fall for a cute girl and forget all this.

Instead, he was undeniably head over heels for a guy with a girly name. That was _not_ funny.

Despite all this, however, Rin had no words to express how relieved he had felt since the day he had come to know about Makoto. Knowing he was… gay or… at least not exactly straight was as if a very heavy and dark hood had been lifted from his head.

Even if… the _‘Oh, then I am like you too, after all’_ moment had happened only when Makoto had forced him to tell the truth out loud.

Till then, he had kept shoving his feelings for Haru somewhere real deep and dark. Yet they’d haunted him day and night, no matter how much he had kept telling himself he liked Haru a humongous lot but _just as a very dear friend who shared with him a big part of his life and passions_.

The one he felt towards him was _clearly_ a different kind of passion.

But now things were different. Not only someone knew about his feelings, but that someone was also his crush’s very best friend. Also in love with a guy. Which happened to be _his own_ best friend.

Talk about luck…

Or coincidences. For real, this time.

The downside – but at least it was mutual – was that he and Makoto were cheering so bad for one another, or… throwing innuendos, puns and jokes at any good occasion whenever Haru or Sousuke were with them, that most of the time spent in the same room would turn out to be incredibly embarrassing.

It was still relieving, though. Handling a love story together with a friend was a very encouraging and bonding experience.

Especially whenever one of the two was overwhelmed by feelings.

“What do I do?”

“Uh?” Makoto turned perplexed towards Rin, who was staring eyes wide open at something indefinite below Haru’s balcony, where they were standing.

Rin turned as well, with a very funny and quite desperate expression. “He’s making me go crazy!” he cried out, squeezing the balustrade in front of him and crouching against it.

A few minutes earlier, in fact, Haru had blessed him with a smile and a shower of compliments for his hard work in Australia, after a silly conversation about their weird coaches had turned unexpectedly serious.

Makoto, who had paid particular attention to how Rin had frozen into place and who had also promptly reminded Haru he had to wash the dishes – which he was doing right now – giggled amused. “Do you want some help?”

“Ugh…” Rin blushed, frowning. “B-but… don’t tell him.”

“I’d never,” Makoto smiled, clearly entertained by Rin’s embarrassment.

The redhead looked elsewhere. “If… if you can…”

“I sure can!!”

Rin then pouted, more flustered. “I’m… helping you too, of course.”

This time, even Makoto flinched, becoming all red. “Ah! Su-sure!”

After that awkward dialogue, they both looked down, in total discomfort.

“What’s with you two?”

Haru suddenly reaching them behind their shoulders, Rin jumped and backed off so violently that Makoto had to grab him.

“COULD YOU BE NOISIER WHEN YOU MOVE AROUND, PLEASE??!!!!!” he shouted, cheeks on fire.

Haru just stared very confused at his red and angry face, before pouting and walking away.

***

During all the years he had known him, Sousuke knew there were only two things that could make Rin stare at the floor so intensely it was as if he was waiting for words and answers to appear on it: bad swimming times and troubles with _a certain someone_. And since he had spent the whole afternoon watching Rin train with Mikhail, he knew it was not the first option.

“Are you ok?” he asked, throwing on a shoulder the towel he had on his head.

“Yeah,” was the feeble sigh that came out of Rin, sat on a bench and evidently very lost in his thoughts.

“You don’t look ok to me.”

Those words breached into Rin’s ears enough to make him realize he was acting weird, so he startled, got up from the bench and walked towards the pool with an irritated. “None of your business!”

“Is it Haru drama, again?” his friend joked, following him.

This time, Rin stopped, getting all stiff, but he didn’t turn. “AS IF!!!!” he just shouted, walking then away even faster.

Sousuke couldn’t see his face, but he had the feeling his shoulders and back had turned weirdly red.

“Rin-kun’s best muscle is aching a bit, lately, you know…”

Mikhail appearing at his side made Sousuke jump.

“M-muscle what?”

“Aaaah, being young is so nice!” the coach sighed, heading towards Rin, who had apparently heard nothing.

Sousuke just stared at the man, perplexed. “That guy sure is weird.”

“You just get used to it,” Rin said, when the Mikhail topic popped out again during lunchtime. “He’s a good guy.”

“Between your coach and Haru’s coach, I don’t know which one is the worst.”

“Haha! If you think they used to be rivals, things get even better.”

Sousuke sat down on a bench, opening his tonkatsu sandwich. “They were amazing swimmers, though.”

“Absolutely!” Rin confirmed, munching his food satisfied. “Man, I was starving.”

“By the way, Mikhail said something about your muscles hurting.”

“Uh?”

“Don’t tell me you injured yourself.”

Rin, who had at first raised a perplexed eyebrow, frowned resigned. “He’s been my coach for ages and I still can’t get what the hell he’s saying. I’m perfectly fine.”

“You sure? He seemed to be certain of it.”

“I swear,” Rin stated, finishing his sandwich in one last bite.

“If you say so…”

“Oi, if you don’t believe me, you can race against me.”

“I might take you up on that, regardless.” Crumpling the plastic wrap in his hands, Sousuke threw it right into the trashcan not too far from them. “How long till you leave again?”

“About two months,” Rin replied, throwing his trash as well, but failing to hit the target. Irritated, he went and picked it up, disposing of it.

Two months were not a long time. He hadn’t been keeping track, so realizing he had just about sixty or seventy days left to live in Tokyo hit him… surprisingly hard. Only that many days to enjoy Haru’s company.

He kicked away that thought by shaking his head. He didn’t want to be in a bad mood before training. Plus, Sousuke’s question had just reminded him of something he had to do before leaving.

He looked at his friend drinking from his bottle, before sitting next to him again. He had promised, after all.

Picking his own drink, he sipped some, glancing at Sousuke. Was that something weird to ask? He wouldn’t know unless he tried.

Putting down his bottle, he looked up at the trees shading them from the sun, then at Sousuke, then up again. “What do you think of Makoto?”

“Uh?” was the pan and – luckily? – not one-bit skittish answer he received. “I thought you had a crush on Haru,” Sousuke nonchalantly joked, not even turning towards his best friend, who, despite being aware that was a joke, flinched and blushed considerably.

“Screw you!! We are not talking about me!!” Hopefully, the shade was enough to hide his vibrant face color. Realizing, then, that his reply had been a bit too aggressive… or defensive, really, he cleared his throat. “W-we are talking about Makoto, of course.”

This time, Sousuke looked at him, with a raised eyebrow. However, he didn’t say a thing.

Rin was starting to fear he had actually understood where the conversation was supposed to go, when Sousuke just opened his bottle again.

“You are weird, lately.”

“Just answer my question, dammit!!” the redhead shouted, grabbing his friend’s drink.

Sousuke sighed, resigned and a bit confused. “I don’t get it.”

“Well, it just seems you two are getting along well and I simply think it’s rare,” Rin explained, complimenting himself for how he had gone back on track so smoothly.

Sousuke tried to grab his water, failing. “Why should it be rar--”

Moving the bottle again, Rin glared at him.

Understanding giving up was for the best and for the sake of hydration, Sousuke sighed again. “Yeah, yeah…” He thought for a while, Rin awaiting full of hope, but then he shrugged. “Well, he’s a nice guy, what do you want me to say? You know him better than I do.”

Rin gave him a malicious grin. “I can tell you things about him, if you want, then.”

Sousuke looked more and more puzzled. ”… why should you?”

Observing his oblivious expression, Rin could just groan, giving him back his water. “I’m sorry.”

“Why should you be sorry?”

“Whatever!! Let’s go back!!”

He couldn’t certainly tell him he was being sorry for Makoto.

Sousuke followed him, perplexed.

“I change what I said earlier: you are _really_ weird, today.”

“Shut up.”

***

You never know your friends well enough.

Usually, Makoto would have gone for such a statement even when Haru was the one involved, but he had always been pretty confident he knew Haru more than well.

At least till the day he had to try to understand if Rin had a chance with him.

No matter how Haru might have actually liked Rin a lot – he was fully positive about this, frankly – whether that “like” could also be “more than friends” he had no clue. If he had to be completely honest, he would have voted for a yes, but considering the very few love stories he had heard from Haru usually involved water, he wasn’t even sure if a romantic relationship – with a person, that is – was on his radar at all.

Haru was the one who had found out about his feelings for Sousuke, though, so he wasn’t that oblivious.

“I told you to come in. What are you doing there?”

The door opening and Haru looking perplexed at his hand still about to ring the bell another time, Makoto startled a little. He had gotten lost in his thoughts.

“Ah! Uhm… I didn’t hear you! Haha!” He had to calm down or Haru was going to find him out. “I-I brought some apples!” he said, raising the plastic bag in his hand. “These ones are very good!”

“Oh, thank you,” Haru replied, still a bit confused, taking the fruit while his friend came in.

Makoto sat down in his friend’s bedroom, on the floor, taking a deep sigh and looking around. A normal conversation. That was all it was. Just like all the times he could clearly read that Rin was on Haru’s mind. Haru would always look away whenever he mentioned Rin on purpose. It was kind of funny.

“It’s a pity Rin couldn’t swim with us, this morning.”

Haru was in the kitchen, so he couldn’t see his reaction.

“Whatever. He’ll come next time,” was the immediate and quiet reply Haru gave him.

“Haha! Sure thing!”

He sounded ok with Rin’s absence. Occasionally he would sound at least a bit disappointed. Right now he seemed to be completely neutral, though. It was true they had grown up. A bit of their… teenager excitement had surely disappeared. Still, he could tell Haru was visibly in a better mood, when Rin was around. Whether that was only related to swimming and rivalry, he wasn’t able to say.

He could hear Haru cutting something and after a few minutes his friend came back with a dish full of nicely cut apple slices.

“Here,” Haru said, sitting down in front of him.

“Thank you, Haru-chan.”

Makoto ignored the irritated glare Haru gave him and took a piece of fruit. He was there just to pass time, since he hadn’t had the chance to spend some time with his friend during the last week. At least that was what Haru had thought. He was there with a _purpose_.

A really stressful one.

He ate another apple slice. None of them was willing to say something, but silence was not unusual between them. They had been friends for so long that having nothing to say was not awkward.

The point was he _had_ something to say.

And he didn’t know how to say it.

Haru would have noticed at any moment. He could read him as well as he could read Haru.

Makoto raised his head to observe him. Haru had taken a magazine about swimming and swimmers and was lazily scrolling through it. Coach Azuma had kept insisting that he checked how other swimmers were doing, at least once in a while, and Haru had eventually surrendered. That was his homework, basically.

“Are you and Rin in that?” he asked, with an amused smile. Haru hated being featured in magazines.

He saw him flinch and look away.

“W-whatever,” was his embarrassed reply. “Rin isn’t, anyway.”

Makoto could feel a satisfied note in his voice, for the fact Rin had no accomplishments worth being put on that piece of paper.

“But he’s only training, lately, so it’s obvious,” Haru added, with a light sigh, turning pages. “His college team is Australian, after all.”

This time, Makoto could hear what seemed to be disappointment. Rin was bound to go back to Australia soon, in fact. Haru had never been able to hide his frustration for he couldn’t swim with Rin often.

If that was a promising clue, Makoto couldn’t tell.

It was what he needed to start interrogating his friend, anyway. Maybe, after this, his questions wouldn’t have sounded too suspicious.

It felt awkward nonetheless, but he had to try, at least.

“You… really like Rin, uh?”

Saying such a thing felt surprisingly comfortable. Was he taking for granted that Haru liked Rin to such an extent? He was hoping for it so much, right now!

Haru at first blinked perplexed, raising his eyes from the paper, then looked at him actually and considerably suspicious. “Why?”

Feeling his confidence dropping below zero in an instant in front of his friend’s irritated face, Makoto started sweating. Haru also hated people pointing out how much he liked Rin. Was that because such assumptions were wrong… or the opposite?

“Well… I just…” Makoto smiled nervously. He had to come up with something. “… thought you were a bit let down by his absence today, that’s all!”

For a second, he thought he had noticed a weird glimpse of light in Haru’s eyes, but since he saw him frowning at him even more vigorously, he was probably wrong.

“You sound like Kisumi. Please, don’t do that,” Haru grumbled, in fact.

A bit let down, Makoto scratched his check, uneasy. “Hahaha! Sorry.”

“You are weird lately,” Haru added, however, making him startle. “Rin too.”

Makoto jumped even more. Had they been found out?!

“If you two are planning something strange for my birthday, I’m not going to forgive you,” was what Haru ended up saying, in the end.

Trying to avoid giving out a sigh of relief, Makoto waved his hands in front of his face. “N-no no! Don’t worry!! Hahaha!!”

That was close. Haru was _certainly_ suspecting something and it would have been weird – and very bad – if he found out about Rin through him. He had to be careful.

On the other side… he _could_ plan something for Haru’s birthday, actually. Just, involving Rin, maybe.

He needed some help and there was only one person that could help him.

Well, technically even Gou, but… two pigeons with one stone, right?

***

“You need my help?”

Sousuke watched Makoto perplexed and Makoto did his best to act nonchalant. Lately he was repeating something like “friends, friends, friends, we are friends” in his head every time he was around Sousuke. It helped keeping random butterflies away.

“Yeah… I think Haru and Rin fought again, but they won’t talk about it.” He gave himself an internal nod for how believable he was being.

“I knew something was wrong.”

“Uh?! You knew?!”

Makoto widened his eyes, bewildered. How could he possibly know something that _wasn’t even real_?

“Rin has been acting strange lately,” Sousuke explained, bringing a hand to the chin.

Makoto observed him carefully. “Ho-how strange?”

Had Rin’s feelings been found out?!! He was pretty sure Rin had never told Sousuke.

Sousuke pointed his eyes at the ceiling of his own apartment, recollecting some memories. “Mmmh… well, for starters, he asked me what I think of you, but I think what he really wanted was talking about Haru.”

“Ah…” Hearing his words, Makoto started sweating bullets, even if his face had just considerably heated up. Despite that, he thanked Rin in his mind for his attempt to help. “Yeah, makes sense.”

“Sometimes I really think he has a crush on the guy.”

“UH?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“But then I tell myself it’s impossible.”

“R-right…?”

Sousuke was on a roll, that day. And about to give him a heart attack, probably.

“They do bicker like a married couple, though.”

At those words, Makoto had to keep himself from laughing. Sousuke was _so_ right about that in particular. “A-and this is why we should help them fix things!”

Sousuke looked at him, curious. “How?”

Makoto gave him a satisfied smile. “I was thinking we could meet in a couple days at Haru’s place. We have dinner and everything, we see how they deal around each other and eventually we leave them alone with some kind of excuse and we see what happens.”

His enthusiasm got quickly turned off by Sousuke’s not so convinced expression.

“… this sounds very cliché.”

Sorry for only being able to give birth to one idea, Makoto felt himself blushing again. “I… I couldn’t think about anything better!”

Sousuke, however, crossed his arms pensive, looking down. “But it could work with a romantic like Rin, so we might give it a try.” Then he smiled broadly. “Count me in. It will be hilarious.”

Makoto chuckled for Sousuke’s excitement about a chance to embarrass his best friend, but was then caught off guard by his crush raising a fist towards him. Whether he had to rejoice for being able to share with him a gesture that so far had only included Rin or not, Makoto blushed a little bit more, but he hit that fist with his own and a big smile on his face.

“Mh!”

He had a feeling that silly lie was going to bring some good.


End file.
